rferl.org."Astana To Simplify Hiring Foreigners" - Kazakhstan is introducing legislation intended to simplify the process of hiring foreign workers. The chief of the Kazakh Interior Ministry's Migration Department, Serik Sainov, said last week the legislation will be adopted by the end of the year.

timesca-europe.com.Two wells find oil in western Kazakhstan - Max Petroleum Plc, a London-listed oil and gas exploration and production company focused on Kazakhstan, has struck oil at two wells in the Sagiz West and Uytas fields in Kazakhstan.

silkroadintelligencer.com. "Nazarbayev sets G20 target" - Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev has told the opening session of the Eurasian Emerging Markets Forum in Astana that he wants Kazakhstan to join the G20.